EZ-VOTE Connect – What’s New

Latest Version: 3.5
Build: b0
Release Date: October 15, 2024

Important: User must install .NET Framework v4.6 in order to install and use EZ-VOTE Connect. On Windows 7, user has to install Windows 7 SP1 first.

• [General] Beginning of the “Meridia” and “MVOTE” rebrand
• [General] Fixed Games, Anywhere Polling API
• [General] Fixed Offline Activation
• [General] Fixed the Installer API not registering
• [EZ-VOTE Plugin] Fixed the Office365 “double-click to open” issue
• [EZ-VOTE Plugin] Fixed the issue when saving into a ‘synced’ OneDrive/SharePoint folder
• [TownVOTE] [in Pre-Vote] Speakers Queue for Online/Hybrid participants
• [TownVOTE] Major visual improvements for the Category Participant Grid view
• [TownVOTE] Major visual improvements for the No Grid view
• [TownVOTE] Full Screen mode for Projector View window. Try it with F11
• [TownVOTE] Ability to edit the Topic after vote has been closed (requiring and reporting credentials)
• [TownVOTE] Visual improvements:
  • List counts (# of participants, # of topics, # of active/inactive participants (in online/hybrid mode))
  • Ability to show large numbers in Total and Subtotals (e.g. in weighted/proxy voting: 12345.67890)
• [TownVOTE] Ability to toggle No Grid and Participant Grid after vote has been opened
• [TownVOTE] Better base receiver management inside TownVOTE Sidebar & Settings Panel
• [TownVOTE] Fixed Simulated Data (Demo Mode) and tied it to the Participant List
  • Now you can simulate 77 votes, if the PL has 77 keypads in it
• [TownVOTE] Base connectivity fixes and improvements:
  • Ethernet connection improvement
  • Fixed multiple base connections
  • Remembering the last connection used
• [TownVOTE] Fixed and improved the Answer Grid Multi-Vote functionality
• [TownVOTE] Toggle to turn ON/OFF the “process of elimination” elections
• [TownVOTE] Participant Grid improvements:
  • Online/offline status indicator: user can turn this off, or clearly indicate whether a Participant is online or offline, using a keypad
  • Online indicator color is now customizable to stand apart from Yes/No color scheme
  • Layout, font size, and PL sorting improvements
  • Remembering the last settings
• [TownVOTE] Ability to confirm votes by the Operator (only in Participant Grid), e.g. to break a tie, record absentee’s vote
• [TownVOTE] High-Contrast display improvements:
  • showing the color of the vote in the box, while also showing the high-contrast symbol on the right
• [TownVOTE] Improvements to session recovery process:
  • offline (clicker) sessions
  • online/hybrid sessions
• [CloudVOTE] Waiting Room improvements:
  • when a session ends, user can stay in the Waiting Room for up to 30 minutes, and if session resumes, they will automatically resume their connection/session
• [CloudVOTE] a significant improvement in performance, throughput and overall reliability of the CloudVOTE back-end
• [Mobile App] brand-spanking new iOS MVOTE WebPad app
  • the native mobile app allows the user to stay connected to the session without timeouts
  • the app offers more intuitive and richer voting experience with full-text answer choices and charts

• [General] Support for EZ-VOTE 5S keypads and EXT-S base receivers with Dynamic Session ID
• [General] Fewer exit prompts
• [TownVOTE] Improvements (Offline, Hybrid/Online)
• [TownVOTE] Exciting new Categories feature
• [TownVOTE] Improved & streamlined keyboard shortcuts
• [TownVOTE] New Voting Grid sorting methods (e.g. by Category, Keypad, Name)
• [TownVOTE] Voting Box background color options
• [TownVOTE] Offline PL search
• [TownVOTE] Move finished votes to the bottom of the list
• [TownVOTE] Base Connectivity Indicator in Hybrid Mode
• [TownVOTE] Focused Selection (Elimination) voting method in Answer Grid
• [TownVOTE] Single, Unified Participant List for Hybrid/Online meetings
• [TownVOTE] It’s back! In High-Contrast mode, show the color-coded answer as well as symbol
• [CloudVOTE] Option to stop WebPad from removing the vote (default)
• [CloudVOTE] New Participant Moderator role
• [CloudVOTE] Show participant login in the WebPad
• [CloudVOTE] Automatic redirect to login upon incorrect entry
• [CloudVOTE] Automatic placement to Waiting Room when session is interrupted

• [Connect Suite] Hybrid meeting ‘No Graph’ option improvements
• [Connect Suite] (Available) 2-Factor Authentication (2FA), strong password enforcement
• [Connect Suite] Subscription information available on Settings page
• [Connect Suite] Expiring subscription notifications
• [Connect Suite] Subscription-driven Dashboard and enforcement
• [TownVOTE] Improved “Voting” report combines anonymous and individual voting data
• [TownVOTE] No Grid option for complete anonymity of the vote
• [TownVOTE] Ability to name/rename your session
• [TownVOTE] Ability to clear responses during a vote (press “C”)
• [TownVOTE] Online participants can now join the TownVOTE session
• [TownVOTE] Online participants can be approved or denied by the Operator via the Operator Panel, which can also serve as an alternative Results Display
• [TownVOTE] Settings you choose across the app will stay remembered
• [TownVOTE] Projector View allows the Operator to show the Voting Grid on a separate screen
• [TownVOTE] Identify and resume session in case of connection interruption or malfunction
• [TownVOTE] Removable third answer (e.g. Abstain)
• [TownVOTE] Slide ordinal issue fixed
• [TownVOTE] Highlight topic when editing it
• [TownVOTE] Improvements in No Grid option, e.g. fitting long Article text and responsiveness of the Voting Grid window
• [TownVOTE] Ability to Auto Preview the results after vote is closed (or never show results)
• [TownVOTE] Auto-Save session, so you don’t have to
• [TownVOTE] Waiting room for online participants

• [Connect Suite] Speed improvements (50% less memory needed)
• [EZ-VOTE Plugin] Fast PowerPoint loading due to “selective EZ-VOTE plugin launch”. User must run PowerPoint from within EZ-VOTE Connect desktop app to use the Plugin.
• [TownVOTE] Planning for big updates within the desktop app, as well as server-side. Stay tuned! Hint: online participants will be allowed to join a TownVOTE business voting session, and much, much more!

• [EZ-VOTE Plugin] All Data and Multi-Vote reports filtered by Participant List Custom Descriptor
  – Improvements to opening and converting older presentations
  – Small API update – increased keypad range to 9999
  – Fixed Data Filtering report
• [TownVOTE] New features: Delay Subtotal, Hide Action Buttons, Show Topic Title before poll opens, reporting within/during session.
  – Hybrid Polling fixes, FIPS compatibility improvements
• [Connect Suite] Activate the desktop license even when the subscription is expired.
  – Fixed a few UI cut-off issues
• [TownVOTE] New auto-save feature so you don’t have to think about your data anymore. Also new: Archive, Restore and Delete sessions from the “Reports” tab in Connect Desktop Suite.
• [Connect Suite] Optimized auto-detect process, more work on support for narration-embedded PPTX files
• [Connect Suite] Fixed ‘server error’ yellow notification bar issue
• [Connect Suite] Beginning of support for narration, embedded audio file during PPTX import. Stay tuned for further updates on CloudVOTE (WebApp).
• [TownVOTE] Ability to run reports without ending the session/exiting from the TownVOTE app

• [New] redesigned and much improved TownVOTE app (found under Voting & Elections banner)
  – Voting Grid improvements (remembering your settings properly)
  – Import/Export function for Topics, Participant List
  – “Voted” tag (e.g. Passed/Failed) in Topic
  – Helpful keyboard shortcuts and on-screen help (e.g. “S” for toggle Subtotals)
• [New] completely revamped EZ-VOTE PowerPoint plugin charting model, resulting in supersonic speeds when building the slides, showing results, duplicating slides, and clearing responses
• [New] ‘Must Vote X Times’ feature available on Multi-Vote slide in EZ-VOTE PPT plugin
• [New] Ability to hide chart/bars and legend for Horizontal Graph object in EZ-VOTE PPT plugin
• [Improvement] better TurningPoint slideshow conversion
• [Fixed] mobile/hybrid polling issues fixed
• [Fixed] we fixed tons of bugs, high-res display issues, slide corruption problems, sporadic crashes, high RAM consumption in TownVOTE

• [TownVOTE] redesigned and much improved TownVOTE app (found under Voting & Elections banner)
  – Voting Grid improvements (remembering your settings properly)
  – Import/Export function for Topics, Participant List
  – “Voted” tag (e.g. Passed/Failed) in Topic
  – Helpful keyboard shortcuts and on-screen help (e.g. “S” for toggle Subtotals)
• [EZ-VOTE for PowerPoint] Completely revamped EZ-VOTE PowerPoint plugin charting model, resulting in supersonic speeds when building the slides, showing results, duplicating slides, and clearing responses
  – mobile/hybrid polling issues fixed
  – improved TurningPoint slideshow conversion
  – ‘Must Vote X Times’ feature available on Multi-Vote slide in EZ-VOTE PPT plugin
  – Ability to hide chart/bars and legend for Horizontal Graph object in EZ-VOTE PPT plugin+ we fixed tons of bugs, high-res display issues, slide corruption problems, sporadic crashes, high RAM consumption in TownVOTE—CloudVOTE (Website)
• [New] Participant List. Restrictive/fixed or user-filled
• [New] Multi-vote support. Ability to force # of votes per user
• [Improvement] Streamlined UI
• [Improvement] PollHub refactoring. Performance gains and future proofing
• [Improvement] TownVOTE multi-image report